Multiple copy rack



Sept. 24, 1935. r H. M. BIELE 2,015,510

MULTIPLE COPY RACK Filed Feb. 7, 1933 3 Sfieets-Sheet l INVENTOR 33 HARRY M. BIELE BY HIS ATTORNEY Sept 24, 1935. Y

H. M. BIELE 2,015,510

MULTIPLE COPY RACK Filed Feb. '7, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HARRY M. BlELE BY HIS ATTORNEY Sept... 24, 1935. H. M. BIELE MULTIPLE COPY RACK v 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. '7, 1953 ENVENTOR HARRY M. BIELE" BY HIS ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 24, 1935 MULTIPLE COPY RACK Harry M. Biele, Hollis, N. Y., assignor to The Associated Press, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 7, 1933, Serial No. 655,583

11 Claims. (01. 197-133) This invention relates to a multiple copy rack and more particularly to an arrangement for guiding and feeding paper from a number of different supply rolls into an automatic typewriting device. In a previous application, filed July 14, 1932, Serial Number 622,398, the applicant describes a multiple copy rack, and the present invention has for its object to increase the efficiency and the capacity, and to improve generally the method of feeding webs of paper from such copy racks.

Automatic telegraph printers are largely used by press associations in distributing news to their subscribers. For this purpose message blanks are not used in such printers, but instead a web of paper is fed into the printer as required, from a roll of paper, the paper feeding mechanism being operated by a transmitting operator. Such printing devices are expected to function ,0 perfectly without attention at the receiving stations, except for that attention occasionally given by a copy boy as he collects the copy or replenishes the paper supply. Printers ordinarily are adapted to make but one copy of an incoming report, and usually this is sufficient, but there are times when extra copies of the report may be required urgently, for example, at election time.

Then again, at a central oifice, where news is distributed to the various wires, more than one copy of the incoming report is required. Formerly, in such central oihces, wax stencils were used in the printers, and copies were made therefrom by a copying machine. This practice, no

matter how efficiently carried out, resulted in a certain amount of delay and was expensive as well, not alone because of the cost of the wax stencils, but chiefly because it was necessary to have an attendant at each printer to watch the incoming copy and withdraw and insert new stencils as each sheet was completed.

By means of the present invention, it is possible to make a sufiicient number of copies of the incoming report without resorting to stencils, thus eliminating delay since copy may be distributed directly from the receiving printers to the various wire editors. Since a continuous web of paper is fed into each printer, one attendant may watch several printers which reduces the cost of operation.

A single sheet of paper will feed through a telegraph printer without difficulty, but when it is desired to make carbon copies, considerable trouble is experienced in adjusting the printer so that the paper will feed straight. This is not serious with typewriting devices when single blanks are used, for the paper is started in proper alignment each time a new blank is inserted, but where a web of paper is fed from a roll, the effect of any tendency the paper may have to run 6 toward either end of the platen is cumulative, and in this case, before many yards of paper are used, the paper will become jammed at one end of the platen.

Further difficulti-es in making copies with an 10' automatic printer are caused by the paper being fed while the carriage is in motion in-returning to the beginning of a, new line. In addition, the line feed pawl in a printer is caused to rotate the platen by a sudden short stroke imparted by 15 a cam or a magnet. For these reasons, in the past, the use of tissue papers and the lighter carbons in making copies was generally avoided owing to the difficulty in keeping the sheets in alignment, and because the varying inertia of 20 several sheets of paper of different weights caused the sheets to slip longitudinally at times in respect to each other, often making the under copies useless. In order to surmount this difi'lculty, it was necessary to use paper of substantially the 5 same weight for each copy. This had the effect of reducing the number of copies made, since the carbon sheets were of the same thickness as the othersheets, and consequently the number of copies was seldom more than two. 30

Accordingly, the object of this invention is the provision of a novel rack for holding a number of rolls of paper, the rack being provided with means for guiding and feeding webs of paper from said rolls under uniform tension into an 35 automatic printing device.

Another object is the provision of certain novel arrangements of parts whereby paper may be fed uniformly froma number of rolls differing from each other in weight and balance. 40

Still another object is to utilize the letter spacing mechanism to aid in drawing paper from the supply rolls, thus reducing the work done by the line feed mechanism.

Other objects will appear in the following de- 45 tailed description given with the aid of the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a vertical section of the copy rack,

Figure 2 is a front view of the webs of paper aligned by the guide rollers as they appear be- 50 neath the printer table.

- Figure 3 is atop view of the copy rack.

Figure 4 shows a guide roller in position on a slack bar.

Figure 5 is a modification of the invention in 55 which one of the upright roll supporting sections is hinged in order to make it possible to insert larger rolls of paper.

Figure 6 is a top view of the latching arrangement shown in Fig. 5.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings:

Two pieces of angle iron 15 and H6 form the base of a rack for supporting supply rolls. Two upright members I! and i8 are secured to each angle iron, and these members in turn carry cross members I9, 26, 2| and 22. In the present embodiment, each cross member is provided with three recesses, each of which is adapted to hold the spindle of a paper roll. The upright as well as the base members are braced at intervals by transverse rods 25 connecting each side of the structure. Near the base of the upright members I1 and I8 are secured plates 2'? and 28, each of which support a series of separator rollers. In the present embodiment, there are as many separator rollers as there are supply rolls, less one, since the web from roll WIZ does not require one.

In the present embodiment which provides for eight copies, a short upright member 24 is secured to each of the forward ends of the base members l and I6. These members support four separator rollers 29, 30, 3! and 32, the alternate rollers 29 and 3| being provided with flanges. This latter group of separator rollers are used to separate the webs from the various supply rolls into groups.

Suspended from the table (Figs. 2 and 4) are a series of slack bars 33 and guide rollers 34, there being one slack bar and a guide roller for each group of webs. The slack bar guide roller 34 is a tube of metal provided with large flanges at its ends. The tube is of considerably greater diameter than the metal slack bar 33 by which it is supported. The slack bars are supported by links of rather heavy wire 35 secured totheir ends, said links being of sufficient length to prevent the guide rollers from slipping ofi the slack bars. The links are suspended by cords attached to the underside of the table. In the drawings, four slack bars are shown, one suspended below the other, the top bar being supported by a cord fastened to the table, and the lower bars being suspended in order by cords attached to the cord of the slack bar next above. This arrangement is shown in Fig. 1 with the links 35 purposely staggered, in order that the arrangement may be shown more clearly.

The various rolls of paper have removable wooden cores 40, in the ends of which are metal spindles 4|. Each core is grooved near one end :32, and in this groove a loose rawhide belt 43 rides, which serves as a brake. A spring 44 secured at one end to the framework of the rack and having the other end attached to the belt 43 causes the belt to exert pressure on the wooden core. Each wooden core is provided with a groove for a brake, but certain of the rolls do not require brakes since the lower webs of paper act as a support to a certain extent for the webs above and prevent the paper from unrolling too rapidly. Fig. 1 shows a satisfactory braking arrangement for use with an eight copy rack. The brakes are adjusted so that they exert just sufficient pressure on the spindle to restrain the roll from turning due to the weight of the loop of paper between the roll and the printer.

The rack as just described is mounted on the printer table as shown in the drawings, of if preferred it may be supported by separate means resting on the floor. When supported bv the printer table, the table is provided with the usual slot 5!] through which the loop made up of the webs of paper swings as the printer carriage 5| travels from one end of a line to the other. In

this embodiment the rack is situated so that when 5 the printer carriage is in position at the extreme right, at the beginning of a new line, the paper in the carriage and the supply rolls in the rack are substantially in alignment.

While the present invention is suitable for use in connection with any page typewriting machine, it is particularly adapted to the well-known Teletype page printer, a machine which has been used for years by all large communication organizations, and which is so well described in U. S. Patent 1,665,594, issued April 10, 1928 to H. L. Krum, that further description here is believed to be unnecessary. The reference character 5! in the drawings accompanying the present specification indicates the paper shield at the rear of a printer carriage where the paper is inserted in a manner familiar to those versed in the art.

Referring to Fig. 1, the rolls of paper are supplied with reference characters of combined letters and numerals, the numbers indicating the 5 order of the sheets as they appear in printing position at the front of the printer platen (not shown), W! being the top copy. The letters indicate the kind of paper making up the supply roll; W, indicating regular white printer paper; SC, carbon paper having carbon deposited on but one side; T, tissue paper, from which printing can be read whether printed directly or in reverse; and, FC, paper having a carbon deposit on both sides.

This method of making copies by using tissue sheets in pairs and double-faced carbon paper is well known, and Fig. 1 clearly shows the order in which the various webs are fed to the printer platen.

This invention operates as follows:

Assuming the invention is set up according to the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, each slack bar and guide roller in the loops of paper A, B, C, and D act independently on its particular loop as 45 follows:

As paper is drawn into the printer, the impact of each feeding operation will tend to lift roller 34 so that it will be supported by the loop of paper, rather than by the slack bar 33. The weight of the roller 34, in most instances will be sufficient to overcome the slight friction of the brakes and paper will be drawn from the supply rolls until roller 34 again is supported by the slack bar. However, if for some reason one or more of the webs tend to drag, such as might be occasioned by a roll having an unbalanced winding, then several feeding operations may take place before more paper is drawn from the defective roll, until the guide roller is drawn up against the slack bar, 0 when the combined weight of the slack bar and the guide roller will be suflicient to unwind more paper.

Occasionally, when through an oversight, a roll badly out of balance, having, perhaps an elliptical 5 cross-section, is placed in service, it may resist the combined weights of the slack bar and guide roller for several line feed operations. The guide roller, in cases like this prevents the slack bar from slipping to either side and falling out of the loop of paper, and at the same time the guide roller holds the various Webs at a uniform length until the repeated jerks concentrated on the taut sheets by the printer mechanism overcome the inertia of the faulty roll, and thereupon the slack bar and guide roller draw down the paper from the supply roll until the loop is again at its normal length.

In the present invention, due to a novel arrangement about to be described, it is very rarely that the action of the linefeed mechanism is required to draw the paper from the rolls, this function being performed by means of the combined action of the movable carriage of the printer and the slack bar and guide rollers which cooperate to maintain the loops of paper in a slack condition, thus materially reducing the work of the line feed mechanism, making it possible to feed a far greater number of webs into a printer than could otherwise be done.

The usual practice is to locate the printer supply rolls directly back of the printer so the rolls and the carriage will be in aligmnent when the carriage has completed half of its travel in either direction. As previously stated, the rack in the present invention is located at the rear of the printer in such a way that the paper in the carriage is in alignment with the supply rolls when the carriage is at the extreme right. With this arrangement, as the carriage is stepped along to the left by the printer spacing magnet, the loops of paper are distorted to a constantly increasing extent, though held in place by the guide rollers 34, until the carriage reaches the end of the line. The motion of the carriage, especially as it nears the end of a line, imparts a series of sharp jerks to the loops which increase in strength until the carriage has travelled its maximum distance.

As the carriage moves away from the beginning of the line, it pulls the webs of paper up toward the slack bars. The constant jerks imparted to the webs by the spacing mechanism, in addition to the shortening of the loops due to the travel of the carriage away from the rack, tend to draw paper from the supply roll, so that when the line feed mechanism operates, as the carriage returns to the beginning of a new line the loops of paper in most cases will be free, since they have been lengthened in respect to the slack bars and guide rollers by the return of the carriage, leaving the line feed mechanism with no work to do beyond feeding up paper from loop-s that already are slack. If, however, a roll is inclined to stick for any reason, then due to the remaining webs being free, the line feed mechanism, in addition to the particular guide roll and slack bar action involved will be concentrated on the faulty roll causing the paper to feed in the manner described above.

Figs. and 6 show this invention modified so as to facilitate replenishing rolls in the middle of the rack In general this modification consists of providing pivots at the lower ends of one of the pairs of upright members in order to form a hinge so that one section of the rack may be swung away from the other while new supply rolls are being inserted.

The base of the structure as modified, consists of two strips of angle iron [5 and I6 similar to those shown in Figs. 1 and 3. At the rear of each strip is secured an upright member 70, each of which supports corresponding cross members H, l2, l8 and 14, provided with recesses for roller spindles. A short vertical member 89 secured to each of the base strips, supports by a pivot 8!, a member 82 carrying horizontal members 83, 84, 85, and each of which has recesses for supply roll spindles.

This section of the rack is free to swing back- 3 ward or forward on the pivots 8|, its forward travel being limited by a chain 9!] connecting the pivoted section of the rack with the fixed section, the chain being of such length as to permit the rack to swing far enough forward so as to 5 provide sufficient space to conveniently insert the paper rolls in the inner part of the rack.

When the paper rolls have been inserted and threaded through the proper separator rolls, the pivoted section is restored to its normal vertical position with 86 abutting it, and cross rod 89 in a recess 9! in guide piece 92 secured by rivets 93 to the respective members 14.

As the pivoted section is moved into upright position, latches 95 pivoted at 96 to each of the members 82 are raised on coming into engagement with a stud 98 on ID, and then with the continued movement of the pivoted section of the rack, the latches drop when their recesses 9'! come over the stud 98, thus holding both sections of the rack firmly together.

The arrangement of guide rollers and separator rollers, as well as the operation of the modification of this invention as shown in Fig. 5 is generally the same as that of the embodiment shown in Fig. l.

I claim:

l. The combination of an automatic typewriting device, a plurality of supply rolls of paper for said device, webs of paper from each of said rolls adapted to be fed simultaneously into said device, means for separating said webs into groups before being fed into said device, means acting independently on each of said groups to maintain said webs in a slack condition.

2. The combination of an automatc typewriting device, a plurality of supply rolls of paper for said device, webs of paper from each of said rolls adapted to be fed simultaneously into said device,

a plurality of rollers for separating said webs into groups before being fed into-said device, means acting independently on each of said groups to maintain said webs in a slack condition.

3. The combination of an automatic typewriting device, a plurality of supply rolls of paper for said device, webs of paper from each of said rolls adapted to be fed simultaneously into said device,

a plurality of rollers for separating said webs into groups before being fed into said device, weighted means arranged between said rollers and said typewriting device adapted to form said webs into a series of loops, said means being adapted to cooperate with the spacing mechanism of said printer to keep said webs in a slack condition.

4. The combination of an automatic typewrit ing device, a plurality of supply rolls of paper for said device, webs of paper from each of said rolls adapted to be fed simultaneously into said device, a plurality of rollers for separating said webs into groups before being fed into said device, 0 weighted means arranged between said rollers and said. typewriting device adapted to form said webs into a series of loops, said means being adapted to cooperate with the spacing and line feed mechanism of said printer to keep said webs 5 in a slack condition.

5. Means for feeding webs of paper into an automatic typewriting device, comprising in combination, a rack for supporting a plurality of supply rolls of paper, a plurality of separator 7 rollers arranged in said rack for separating webs of paper extending from the respective supply rolls, a plurality of rollers beyond said separator rollers for combining certain of said webs into groups, a weighted roller for each group of webs suspended by flexible means below said guide rollers, each weighted roller being adapted to engage a group of webs between said guide rollers and the carriage of the typewriting device arranging the webs into a series of loops, said loops being free to swing as the carriage travels in a longitudinal direction.

6. Means for feeding webs of paper into an automatic typewriting device, comprising in combination, a rack for supporting a plurality of supply rolls of paper, a plurality of separator rollers arranged in said rack for separating webs of paper extending from the respective supply rolls, a. plurality of rollers beyond said separator rollers for combining certain of said Webs into groups, a weighted roller for each group of webs suspended by flexible means below said guide rollers, each weighted roller being adapted to engage a group of webs between said guide rollers and the carriage of the typewriting device arranging the webs into a series of loops, one within the other, said loops being free to swing as the carriage travels in a longitudinal direction.

'7. Means for feeding webs of paper into an automatic typewriting device, comprising in combination, a rack for supporting a plurality of supply rolls of paper, a plurality of rollers arranged in said rack for dividing webs of paper extending from the respective supply rolls into groups, a weighted roller for each group of webs suspended by flexible means below said guide rollers, each weighted roller being adapted to engage a group of webs between said supply rolls and the carriage of the typewriting device in order to arrange the webs into a series of loops one within the other, said loops being free to swing as the carriage travels in a longitudinal direction.

8. In a paper feeding system, a table, a framework supported thereby, a plurality of cross memoutside of said framework, and a hinged section 5 in said framework to permit access to the rolls of paper inside of said framework.

9. In a. paper feeding system, a table, a framework consisting of a plurality of sections supported thereby, cross members secured to said framework adapted to support rolls of paper within and outside of said framework, a hinged section in said framework to permit access to the rolls of paper, and a flexible member for limiting the motion of the hinge.

10. In a multiple copy rack, a table, a frame work consisting of a plurality of sections supported thereby, cross members secured to said framework adapted to support rolls of paper within and outside of said framework, a hinged section in said framework to permit access to the rolls of paper, a flexible member for limiting the motion of the hinge in one direction and automatic locking mechanism for securing the hinged section.

11. The method of feeding paper from a plurality of supply rolls into an automatic printer which comprises locating said paper supply rolls in a horizontal position so they are substantially aligned with the printer carriage only when said carriage is in position to begin a new line, so that the effect of unreeling means associated with said supply rolls is combined with the effect of the carriage spacing mechanism.

HARRY M. BIELE. 

